Tar Heels display talent at skill positions

North Carolina tailback Romar Morris breaks through a hole during the spring football game Saturday afternoon.

The Associated Press

By Conor O'Neill / Times-News

Published: Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 01:05 AM.

CHAPEL HILL — Maybe it won’t be so difficult to replace Giovani Bernard.

In a spring football game that featured a few bright spots and also left room for improvement, North Carolina prominently displayed a stable of running backs that appears fully capable of replacing the Atlantic Coast Conference first-team star.

For the Blue Team — the projected starters, who won 34-10 — speedster Romar Morris (80 yards on 15 carries) and bruiser A.J. Blue (30 yards on eight carries) shouldered the load.

But the surprise came in the form of Khris Francis, a freshman early-enrollee from Durham Hillside, who ran for 101 yards on 20 carries for the White Team.

“Really, I thought all three of them did a nice job,” said Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora. “But Khris, for his first time out there in a game-type atmosphere, I thought he did a good job. ... He hit some holes and exploded through them.”

What was especially promising about Francis’ effort was that it came mostly against the Tar Heels’ starting defense.

“Khris Francis went crazy. It wasn’t really any 40, 50-yard runs but those 10, 15, 20-yard runs were great for him,” said Blue, the elder statesman among the running backs as a rising senior. “I really could see it throughout the whole spring, but he didn’t have that much pressure on him.

CHAPEL HILL — Maybe it won’t be so difficult to replace Giovani Bernard.

In a spring football game that featured a few bright spots and also left room for improvement, North Carolina prominently displayed a stable of running backs that appears fully capable of replacing the Atlantic Coast Conference first-team star.

For the Blue Team — the projected starters, who won 34-10 — speedster Romar Morris (80 yards on 15 carries) and bruiser A.J. Blue (30 yards on eight carries) shouldered the load.

But the surprise came in the form of Khris Francis, a freshman early-enrollee from Durham Hillside, who ran for 101 yards on 20 carries for the White Team.

“Really, I thought all three of them did a nice job,” said Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora. “But Khris, for his first time out there in a game-type atmosphere, I thought he did a good job. ... He hit some holes and exploded through them.”

What was especially promising about Francis’ effort was that it came mostly against the Tar Heels’ starting defense.

“Khris Francis went crazy. It wasn’t really any 40, 50-yard runs but those 10, 15, 20-yard runs were great for him,” said Blue, the elder statesman among the running backs as a rising senior. “I really could see it throughout the whole spring, but he didn’t have that much pressure on him.

“He’s been progressing. He has some splash plays where we’re like, ‘Wow,’ and then he has some plays where we’re like, ‘OK now we realize he’s a freshman.’ But (Saturday) he made major strides. … That lets us know that we have depth at our position now.”

Fedora confessed it was “good to get it over with,” and several times said there is a lot of work to be done between Saturday’s spring game and the season opener against South Carolina on Aug. 29.

After a stagnant and scoreless first quarter, receiver Sean Tapley threw a 52-yard pass to Quinshad Davis on a trick play to begin the second quarter. A couple plays later, Morris pounded in a 2-yard touchdown run.

The reverse pass was rehearsed and planned, Tapley said, with one adjustment made in practice.

“I was supposed to be throwing the ball to Quinshad, but he wanted to be the quarterback so I said OK, he could throw it,” Tapley said. “He threw it short and I was picking on him, but other than that it was a good play.

“Before I went out there I said, ‘Don’t overthrow me.’ So maybe I jinxed him,” Tapley said with a chuckle.

Tapley was later on the receiving end of a 48-yard touchdown pass from Bryn Renner. The rising junior finished with three catches for a game-high 108 yards, but needs to duplicate his performance more often, according to Fedora.

“He’s got to become more consistent because he can really be a game-changer,” Fedora said.

A couple highlight-reel plays were made in the second half on nearly identical plays, as both Mack Hollins (redshirted as a freshman last season) and Kendrick Singleton (rising sophomore) made falling-backward catches in the end zone for touchdowns.

Renner was 16-for-27 for 216 yards and three touchdowns, turning around what was a lackluster first quarter when he threw an interception in the end zone.

For the White Team (and later the Blue Team, after a uniform switch), early-enrollee Mitch Trubiski had his share of promising moments in going 10-for-18 for 170 yards and a touchdown. He stands as Renner’s backup after Marquise Williams left school earlier this year.

-- EXTRA POINTS …: North Carolina was missing injured starters in safety Darien Rankin, offensive lineman James Hurst and tight end Eric Ebron. … Quarterbacks weren’t supposed to be hit, but that shouldn’t diminish Kareem Martin’s four sacks. Travis Hughes and Brandon Ellerbe also had two sacks apiece.